Award Certificate certificate templates and badges
3 free designs. A set is one design as a badge, a landscape or a portrait certificate, or all three.
Free for up to 20 recipients a year
Winners Envelope set
Badge · Landscape · Portrait
An award certificate template is for the moment someone is chosen: Team Member of the Year at a company's annual awards, Best Newcomer at a sports club dinner, a subject prize at school speech day. Unlike a certificate of completion, an award says that a person or team was picked from a field of nominees, so it is usually presented in front of others and kept for years.
A good award names the award and its category, gives the reason in a sentence or two, and says who made the choice: a judging panel, the staff, a committee or a head teacher. Add the date and one or two signatures. Many organisations also use the same award template every year, so past and present winners match.
The designs here come as printable certificates in A4 and US Letter and as digital badges, so a winner can frame the award and share it online.
Wording
What to write on a award certificate certificate
Use these lines as they are, or as a start for your own. Every template comes with wording you can change in the studio.
Wording for employee awards
- “In recognition of an exceptional year of results, team spirit and going above and beyond.”
- “Chosen by your colleagues for the care and energy you bring to every project.”
- “For leadership that lifted the whole department this year.”
Award certificate wording for school
- “Awarded for outstanding effort and kindness to classmates throughout the year.”
- “Winner of the Year 6 Science Prize for a curious mind and careful work.”
- “For being a role model on and off the sports field.”
Short lines for the badge or the email
- “And the winner is you.”
- “Chosen. Announced. Well deserved.”
Why send it with Hyperstack
More than a PDF
Customize the template free. When it is ready, send it to everyone at once.
One design, every name
Upload a spreadsheet and Hyperstack makes a award for each person on it, in one go.
Sent by email
Each recipient gets their own email and link. You see who opened it, downloaded it and shared it.
Anyone can verify it
The QR code opens a page that proves the certificate is real. Recipients add it to LinkedIn in one click.
FAQ
Questions, answered
Common categories are Employee of the Year, Team of the Year, Rising Star, Leadership, Customer Service and Innovation, often with one award chosen by peers. Keep the list short enough that each award feels special, and write a one-line description of each category before nominations open.
Usually a judging panel, an awards committee or the staff vote, and the certificate is signed by the person who speaks for that choice: a chief executive, a head teacher, the chair of the panel or a club president. Two signatures, for example the leader and the committee chair, show the decision was made carefully.
Be specific about what the person did, not only that they did well. Mention one or two concrete things, such as a project delivered, a record set or the way they helped others, in one or two sentences. Keep it short enough to read aloud when the award is presented.
Many organisations give a finalist or highly commended certificate to everyone on the shortlist. It thanks people for their work and makes the winner's award mean more, as long as the wording clearly separates winner, finalist and nominee.
Yes. Children value a certificate they can take home, and awards for effort, kindness or progress reach pupils who rarely top a test. Printable award certificates for kids work best when the reason is written in words the child understands.
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3 templatesYour next cohort deserves better than a PDF
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